(Newser)
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Two suicide attackers bombed an Islamic university in the Pakistani capital today, killing four people and wounding 18 as the army pressed ahead with a critical offensive on a Taliban stronghold near Afghanistan, authorities said. The near simultaneous blasts hit a women's cafeteria and a faculty building at Islamabad's International Islamic University. They followed warnings this week by authorities of militant attacks on schools and universities that had prompted many to close.

"It seems that (militant) sympathizers or collaborators are doing this to divert attention from the military operation," the university's president told the AP, referring to recent military action in South Waziristan. "They are trying to create panic in the capital city." The university on the outskirts of the capital has more than 18,000 students, nearly half of them women. Many students come from abroad, and most take secular subjects such as management science or computer studies.

Extremists cutting their own throats by attacking the best and brightest of the youth. These are the next leaders in business and government. Can't imagine they (especially the women) will be too sympathetic to the Al quaida or the Taliban.